Smotrycz, Brundidge, Christian All Exit

I had these tweets up from Sam Webb that hinted at some attrition from the basketball team but that's all irrelevant now:

University of Michigan men's basketball head coach John Beilein announced today (Wednesday, March 21) that sophomore forward Evan Smotrycz(Reading, Mass./New Hampton Prep [N.H.]),sophomore forward Colton Christian(Bellevue, Wash./Hargrave Military Academy) and freshman guard Carlton Brundidge(Southfield, Mich./Southfield HS) each decided to leave the Wolverine basketball program and transfer to another school.

Smotrycz is the headliner here. He started the first half of the year before Michigan went to Stu Douglass in the starting lineup; playing out of position the rest of the year at the five he still saw 20 minutes a game and was Michigan's best three-point shooter over the course of the season. He was projected to start at the four next year. His loss is both inexplicable and harmful. Unless Smotrycz was flat out told that McGary and Robinson were going to eat his minutes I don't understand that departure.

Brundidge only saw a few minutes spotting Trey Burke; Christian was also an end of the bench type.

Michigan's scholarship crunch just got blown away: Michigan could bring in two additional guys in the 2012 class and still have room for their three guys in 2013 without any further attrition. They only have one active target, 6'5" Findlay Prep PG/SG Amedeo Della Valle. He's got a top five Michigan is a part of along with Texas A&M, Ohio State, Arizona, and Gonzaga. They could also get in on the Trey Ziegler transfer sweepstakes now.

“It’s just a matter of what I thought was the right fit, something my family agreed on,” Smotrycz said. “I don’t want to say too much right now in being sensitive to the coaching staff. But it was a decision I had to make to be somewhere I was happy.”

Man, I can scream .. I tried to post in this earlier, but the site went crazy on me... I haven't been able to express my opinion on so many basketball issues, but here, I hope this finds everyone. I'm not saying why Smotz left, but I am guessing one of the main reasons is the lack of playing time he'd get going forward, mostly from a guy named McGary. Mitch McGary is going to start from day one, there's not much guessing on that one. Smotz can shoot, yea, but you know what he can't do, man the block. We need someone that can be a presence on the inside, rebound on both sides of the floor, while also running the floor and offering up some offense in the process. That's not Smotz, sorry. You know who that is; Mitch McGary. I bet McGary averages more than 5 rebounds more than the guy who finishes second on the team in rebounding, he's going to gobble up that many, so while some might be shocked by all these moves ..... I'm not. We lost depth, sure, but hopefully we can go hard for a guy like Trey Ziegler, and Sam Webb already said on his twitter that we'll have two spots open for the 2012 class, and we desperately need to find a backup PG. Heck, we might have to nab two PGs, that is, if Trey Burke believes the person who told his dad the three biggest lies of 2012, one of which was that his son would go between 18-24 in the first round...

Smotrycz is very puzzling. While this will take our 9 man rotation down to 8, I do not think this should lower anyone's expectations for next year. Still though, I can't help but wonder what caused Smot to want out.

I appreciate Smot's skill with the ball, I'm gratefull for his effort this year, and I wish him well wherever he goes. But with Robinson and McGary likely taking the minutes he would have played, we're almost certainly a better rebounding and defensive team. We won't be able to stretch the floor nearly as well offensively, but McGary and Robinson both look pretty skilled on that end as well. Obviously, we're going to be relying more on true freshman, but I expect both those guys to step in pretty smoothly.

EDIT: I originally read "I do not think" as "I do think" in your post.
=> shorter version of my post: I agree.

you may not be considering how baffling this is, and that it may be indicative of a bigger problem than just Smot. That team was not right for a while, and Beilien did very little coaching in either the Big Ten tourney or against Ohio. I think there is a cancer somewhere on that team. This is not good news, recruiting class aside. A mass exodus is very unusual for a basketball team, especially for one player who was a substantial contributor. Stay tuned here.

Boy, how things have changed with the M basketball program in just a couple of weeks. After losing to Purdue at home we come back and get a share of the Big 10 regular season championship, then look miserable the rest of the regular season and in the NCAA's. Now this. I'm guessing DB is wondering what happened to Beilein and the program in such a short time frame. Negativity breeds negativity and some good recruiting news is needed to reverse the current downward momentum.

the ship of state is running aground. But losing all three at once is likely to be seen as a negative. I think that it's going to emerge both that there was a little friction between Smot and the coaches and that he was going to see his PT drop.

This is a sign of an upward leap..... these three transfers are all due to playing time... . don't believe anything else.... For when someone wants to do something, then any excuse will do. Smot knew his playing time would be still limited, and perhaps would prefer to play near home and start full-time... this still is all about playing time, which is a function of an uptick in the program.... Amen I say to that [Amen means "So be it"]

I'm guessing "DB" isn't "wondering what happened to Beilein and the program in such a short time frame" because Dave Brandon is smart enough not to evaluate the status of a major program by only looking at a three week period in which nothing that could be construed by any reasonable person as "negativity breed[ing] negativity" took place.

If smotrycz transferred because some people gave him a hard time for turning the ball over in the Ohio game, then he probably is better off not continuing to play basketball anywhere else. Don't have a twitter if you really don't want to hear that stuff. Not to mention that there was an equal amount of people that told him to keep his head up, etc after the Ohio game.

I thought he was unhappy all year, his body language screamed it. He made this decision or at least thought about it for a while and the turnover had nothing to do with it - IMHO.

I just think he didn't like his role on this team or didn't care for Beileins system. There is no doubt he ends up being a solid player by his senior season, the fact that he could have been a team leader next year is sad.

Brundidge and Christian I might be able to understand. But Evan? He was basically a starter on a B1G Championship team. Wowza. Interested to learn of the details behind his sudden departure. Good luck to all three.

I was always puzzled why Brundidge was so highly ranked. He didn't look that impressive against high school competition. Talent wise, only Smotz will hurt, but he really had a tough year considering the pre-season expectations for him.